BRITNEY GALLEGOS
back-up jury member , pretended to be sad he didn ’ t get a note .
My favorite story about camaraderie comes from Britney though . In logging road test , she and several other riders caught each other and had to race though it hare-scramble style . Nobody let faster riders around , there was bar banging and
BRITNEY GALLEGOS people got taken out . Afterwards , there was yelling and a shoving match . The whole group heads down the transfer , still yelling .
Up on a ridge , a Swedish WWT rider lost her front end and careened down the mountainside . The others stop , look at each other , then down at her . There ’ s no way she ’ ll get her bike back up alone . Then all of these women , who were yelling obscenities moments before , park their bikes and clamber down the mountain to rescue the Swede . They all get back up on the trail , take off again … and immediately start shouting at each other again .
I ’ ve mostly told stories about this day ; there ’ s not much to tell about the riding . The loop and tests were identical to day four . I crashed both trips through vineyard – the silt was so deep I no longer knew how to cope . I lost time to Goncalves , but still held my fourth . For the fifth straight day , our lead increased . We have 13min heading into the last day of racing .
DAY SIX
Day six is easy – a road ride to final moto . However , tragedy can still strike . After five long days of riding , both of Martel ’ s French
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 104